The Art of Budget-Friendly Comfort Food: A Homemade Stroganoff Recipe

As I stood in front of my stove, surveying the ingredients laid out before me, I couldn't help but think about the humble beginnings of this recipe. It all started when my kids were small and insisted on choosing their own dinner options at the grocery store. One fateful trip resulted in them picking a box mix with ground beef and noodles - an unassuming starting point for a dish that would become a staple in our household.

One of the most significant advantages of cooking with ground beef is its affordability. When you buy in bulk, it's possible to make a meal that would be considered gourmet without breaking the bank. And so, I set out to create my own version of that boxed mix - a recipe that would capture the essence of comfort food without sacrificing flavor or quality.

The first step was to brown the ground beef in a skillet. This was a crucial step, as it added depth and richness to the dish. Once the beef was nicely browned, I added a spoonful of tomato paste, which added a boost of umami flavor. The tomato paste also helped to thicken the sauce, giving it a velvety texture that would be hard to achieve with just ground beef.

Next, I added two and a half cups of low-sodium beef stock, along with a teaspoon of smoked paprika, a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, and a sprinkle of pepper. The ingredients began to meld together, releasing the rich aromas of the dish. To ensure that the noodles were cooked just right, I stirred in some hot water until they reached the desired consistency.

While the stroganoff simmered away on the stove, I couldn't help but think about the journey this recipe had taken. It had started with a humble box mix and had evolved into a sophisticated dish that would delight both children and adults alike. The addition of sour cream added a tangy creaminess to the sauce, while the chives provided a fresh and herbaceous note.

As I took the lid off the pot, the aroma wafting from the stroganoff was unmistakable - rich, savory, and utterly comforting. It was clear that this recipe had been perfected over time, with each ingredient working in harmony to create a dish that was greater than the sum of its parts. And yet, despite its complexity, the dish remained remarkably simple, making it accessible to cooks of all skill levels.

To finish the dish, I added a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled some chopped chives on top. The result was nothing short of stunning - a vibrant, appetizing stew that seemed to glow with warmth and welcome. And as I took my first bite, I knew that this recipe had truly earned its place in our household.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSteak salad sandwich board.That way everybody can eat their steakhowever they want.This is great for family dinner.Or if you're having company over.The first step is to season a bunch ofsliced onions and two good looking ribeyesteaks. And all I'm using is lemon pepperseasoning.And those look great.And then I'm going to sprinkle on some salt,too.And I've got a grill that is really heatingup here.So I'm going to brush on some olive oilfirst just to make sure the steak doesn'tstick. And I'll put the seasoned side down.And that way I can season the other side.Okay, now I've just got to grill the steaks.Then I'll take them off the grill pan, grillthe onions.Then I'll make some horseradish mayo.Get bread ready.Slice the steaks, and I will see you on theother side.So for the steak, I'll give them 5 minuteson the first side, turn them and cook themfor four more minutes until they're mediumrare.Then I'll take them out onto a board andjust let them rest.Next, I'll put the onion rounds on and cookthem for about 5 minutes.Now, for the horseradish mayo.So for this, I'll add half a cup of mayo to abowl, along with half a cup of sour cream,three tablespoons of prepared horseradish, ateaspoon of Worcestershire, half a teaspoonof black pepper, a good pinch of salt.Give everything a good mix and tip it into aserving bowl.Okay, back to the onions.I'll just turn them and give them a few moreminutes.Then it's all about the crusty bread.Put it on a board and cut slices.The onions are ready, so I'll take them off.And finally, it's about slicing the steak.And with that, everything's good to go.I do believe I have everything I need tobuild this steak salad sandwich board.So I'm going to start with the steaks, andI'm going to arrange everything on thisbeautiful board.With the steak, I'm going to put some slicesof bread.Now, these beautiful onions.The lettuce. Beautiful tomato slices.And then I have sliced white cheddar, thisbeautiful horseradish mayo, sliced greenonions to put on the steak.A little bit of sea salt over the tomatoes.It is absolutely glorious cheeseburgersliders.And these are not the sliders that youthink.So I started sauteing some onions in a littlebit of vegetable oil and I'm adding someground beef and instead of forming them intoindividual.Patties like you would normally.See sliders.I'm going to cook all the ground beeftogether.Crumbling it as I go.So I'm just going to cook this for about 4.Minutes until the beef is totally browned.All right. The ground beef is pretty muchbrown.So I'm going to add some Worcestershiresauce just to make things a little moreinteresting. Going to add some more pepper.I want the ground beef to be superflavorful.And you can actually doctor this up with hotsauce.You can add a little bit of barbecue sauceto the meat, if you like, that kind of thing.All right. So I'm going to turn the meat offand I'm going to make a little sauce for thesliders. So what's your favorite condimentfor burgers.Mayo, ketchup and mustard.Well, you're in luck, Mauricio, because I ammaking a mixture of mayo, ketchup andmustard. I'm not going to put it onseparately.I'm just going to stir it all together.And again, you can have some fun with this.You can add hot sauce, barbecue sauce.Okay, So look at this.Hmm. It's called mess mesquite, mesquite,Mexican ways.So these are slider rolls and they come allstuck together in a package.I cut them through the middle.Put them on the pan, and I toasted them inthe oven just until they were starting to getbrown. So watch this.All of the sauce goes on.It looks like a lot, but it's really not asmuch as you think.And then you want to spread it, so it reallygets out to the edges.These are cheeseburger sliders.So I've got some grated cheddar Jack, andI'm going to add half of it right on top ofthe sauce. And then I'm going to add theground beef.It's just like one big sandwich, and thenI'm going to bake it and cut it intoindividual sliders.And it's really packed on here, you guys.That's the way I like my sliders.Nice and beefy. That's right.Same. All right.So basically, you want to spread the groundbeef just kind of so it's on an even layerand it goes out to the edges and then therest of the cheese goes on.And then my favorite part, which isn't thatrevolutionary, it's just my favorite part.Pickles.Yes and yes.And what I like to do is just do a slicekind of over each section.So then, as you can imagine, the top goes onand I'm going to give it a little bit of apress. And then I have some olive oil.And I want to show you what I'm going to doto the tops of the buns.I am not content just to put naked buns inthe oven.I have to doctor them up.Naked buns are not my thing.Everything. Bagel, seasoning.Oh, interesting.Right? It just kind of gives the buns alittle bit of interest.All right, let's put them into the oven.Alex. Come along.375 degrees just until the cheese melts andeverything is piping hot.And then we'll dive in.Ooh, ooh, ooh.Oh, my goodness.The tops of the rolls got a little toasty.I love it because they kind of look likepretzels, almost.They kind of got that pretzel y color aboutthem.So then all you have to do is just kind ofvery.Casually run a knife through and just cutoff however many sliders you want.One for me.Four for Mauricio.Seven for Stew.Check it out. Wow.Those look amazing.I'm starting with the flank steak.I'm just patting it dry, and I'm going toadd a very simple seasoning of just salt andpepper. Now I have a hot grill pan, and I'mgoing to put it seasoned side down, andI'll let it start grilling while I seasonedthe other side.Flank steak has such amazing flavor.Love the texture.It's going to take about 5 minutes on thefirst side, so I'm going to get started onthe mixture for the three cheese waffle hashbrowns.I have frozen shredded hash browns that Ilet thaw and I'm adding some melted butter.I'm going to add three grated cheeses.I've got cheddar mozzarella and pepper,Jack.Okay, Now I want to season this with somesalt and lots of pepper.When my family eats any kind of friedpotato, they add tons of pepper.And I'm going to get this into the wafflemaker so it can start to cook.I've already got the waffle maker nice andhot, and it's really important to spray it.Well, with cooking spray, just so thosepotatoes don't stick and I'm going to spraythe top two and then I'm going to add aheaping cup to each of the wells of thewaffle maker. This is a great approach totake If you're making a brunch for familythat's visiting for the holidays, they'reperfect with a salad for lunch.Now, that's my kind of eating.Make a healthy salad and then eat cheesyhashbrown waffles with them.And then I'll close the waffle maker.And it's going to take this about 12 minutesto cook.So I'm going to go back to the flank steak,see if it's ready to turn over.Oh, look at how good this is looking.Beautiful surface, gorgeous grill marks.Now, I need to let it cook on the secondside for another 5 minutes.Oc. The steak is finished cooking, so I'mgoing to get it off of the pan while thesteak rests. I'm going to make a beautifulherb sauce to pour over the slice steak, andI'm going to pour some olive oil into abowl.About two thirds of a cup, about a quartercup of red wine, vinegar, finely mincedshallots. I've got some serrano pepperthat's finely diced, and I'll grate in aclove of garlic, and then I'll chop up amixture of basil, mint, parsley and cilantro.This is basically a version of Chimichurri,which is right up there with my favoritesteak sauces.It's basically a mixture of green herbs, alittle bit of oil and vinegar.It is so tasty.Those herbs are totally minced.They smell so good.I would love to have a candle with the scentof all of these herbs together.Delicious. I'm so cent driven.Yum, yum. Okay, I'm going to add some saltand pepper to the sauce, and then this willbe good to go.All right. I'm going to let this sit and Iam going to slice the flank steak.We'll see how this looks.I do believe it turned out just perfect.Going to grab the platter and I'll get thesteak on.Nothing like a white platter when you'reserving glorious, medium rare beef.Now, as if that wasn't exciting enough, it'stime to check on these.Oh, waffle hash browns.Oh, look at how golden and crisp these are.And I might add, cheesy.Okay, I'm just going to kind of overlap themone by one.They're nice and hot.Now, for the herb sauce, This is so pretty,and I'm just going to spoon it in a line onthe beef. The garlic in this sauce addsreally big flavor, and the herbs are sofresh. And then I'll put the rest of it in alittle dish on the side.Well, I am almost speechless.This is so pretty.Flank steak with herb sauce, three cheese,waffle hash browns.This is a new favorite in our house.I'd say. I've definitely raised the stakes.I'm making Skillet, Spaghetti and meatballs.It's a delicious classic.Lots of pasta, lots of meat.And it's baked in the oven.It is going to be so good.I'm starting on the meat mixture for themeatballs and it's just ground chuck withsome minced garlic and then a third, a cupof parmesan cheese.A third a cup of seasoned Italianbreadcrumbs.And then a little bit of cream.And some beaten egg.To season it. I'm just going to add some.Salt. And Pepper.And then some finally minced oregano.And then I'll just go in with my hands.All right. This is all smooshed together.And I'm going to pinch a pretty generousamount.I'm making pretty big meatballs.I got it all smoothed out.So that's one meatball.And I'm going to make nine more just likeit.I'll put them on a sheet pan first.The next step is to get them into.A skillet and brown them in a corner cup ofolive oil.You have to turn the meat balls so they cookevenly.And give them an occasional shake.It takes about 5 minutes.Don't these meatballs look amazing?They're so brown around the edges.They're not quite cooked all the waythrough, but they will have plenty ofopportunity to do that.So I'm going to move the meatballs to theedges of the pan and move forward with thesauce ingredients.In the center, I'll scrape in some dicedonion and some more oregano and more garlic.So there's oregano and garlic in themeatballs themselves, as well as the sauce.This is Ladd's idea of the perfect meal.He loves pasta, loves Italian food, lovescheese.And that is why I love Ladd.We have a lot in common when it comes to thethings that we like to eat.I'm a little more adventurous than he is,but what do you expect from a woman who's twoweeks more mature than her husband?Okay. The onions, garlic and oregano havebeen sauteing.They're already starting to get soft.So I'm going to add a whole can of crushedtomatoes.Right in the center.And Ladd and I can both handle a littlespice in our life.In fact, at our advanced age, we need alittle excitement here and there.Just kidding. We're young, little sprites.And then I'm going to add some water just tohelp make it saucy.I'm going to crank up the heat just a littlebit.So I'm just going to let the meatballs keepcooking and simmer in the sauce until they'retotally cooked through.Yep. This has last name written all over it.I'm going to turn the heat off under themeatballs and I'll grab the pasta.I'm just keeping it real classic and doingspaghetti.Sometimes if I'm making spaghetti andmeatballs right before serving it, I'll putthe noodles on a big platter and thencarefully spoon the sauce over.It makes a really great presentation.But I'm just going to mix the spaghetti andmeatballs together in the skillet.I've got two rib eye steaks putting them ina plastic bag, and I'm going to let them sitfor just a short amount of time in thisdelicious marinade.It's an Asian influenced marinade.The first ingredient is canola oil, red winevinegar and also balsamic vinegar.And Worcestershire sauce.Soy sauce.And then for some zip, a couple oftablespoons of fresh lime juice.A little sugar for a hint of sweetness.Garlic, some minced fresh ginger, hot chilioil, salt and black pepper.Believe me, it's good.Now I'll just pour half the marinade intothe bag with the steaks.And the great news about this is it doublesas the salad dressing.So I'll save that for later.I'll just seal up the bag.I'm going to let the steaks marinate forabout 5 to 10 minutes.You can let them go longer if you have thetime, but you don't have to.Now, one of the best parts about this saladis I top the whole thing with thin friedonion rings. I've got two onions and Isliced them really, really thin.And I'm just going to do a quick soak withsome buttermilk.It's just going to moisten them up.Take a little bit of the pungent onionflavor away, and while they're sitting, I'llmake the dry mixture.And that's just two cups of flour.And a good amount of salt.Just about a tablespoon or so, about a halfa teaspoon of cayenne pepper gives them alittle kick and then just some regularpepper.And then I'll whisk this together.Now I've got some oil going.It's about three 5360, so I'm going to stirthe onion rings around just a little bit, andthen I'll just take a little bunch.Let the buttermilk drip off.Drop them into the flour mixture, and thenI'll pick him up and hit the tongs on theside of the pan.And that just helps the excess flour dropoff, and then I'll just plunge them into theoil. And these are going to fry in no time.I'm going to do them in batches.So they'll cook really evenly and they aregoing to be golden and crisp and out of thisworld. The onion rings are just about done.I'm just taking out the last of them.All right, I'll turn that off now.I'll get the steaks going for the big steaksalad.I've got a grill pan.That's a nice shortcut.Way to grill things.Gives things nice grill marks without havingto go outside and light a big fire.All right. One steak, two steak.Now, let those sit. They're going to goabout 2 to 3 minutes per side.So I'll get started on the saladingredients.I've just got a big old box of mixed greens,arugula, radicchio.You can use.Any lettuce you want.All right, now I'll just throw in some wholegrape tomatoes.I'm not even going to cut them up.Spread all that out.Now I'm going to slice the steaks.I'll go against the grain and just slicesort of thin strips.I love warm steak and cold salad.It's one of life's real pleasures.And then, of course, the grand finale.I'll just grab a nice handful of onionstrings and put them right on top of thesalad. I know I am breaking a few ruleshere, but I don't care.This is so delicious, lad.And the kids have been up since 4 a.m.shipping cattle. It's long, dirty work, soas a treat, I'm wrestling up a rib stickinglunch of the kid's favorite dishes for mylittle rancher.Bryce. It's got to be beef.So Salisbury steak in a tasty onion gravy.Seems like just the ticket.I just mixed together A pound and a half ofground beef, then added a half a cup ofseasoned breadcrumbs to bind it alltogether.Then I added two teaspoons of dry mustard, acrumbled beef bouillon cube, four dashes ofWorcestershire sauce, a tablespoon ofketchup.And some salt and pepper.After that, I needed the mixture together,formed some oval patties.I've got some oil and butter in a hot panand I'll just get the patties going.Now, because the patties begin with groundbeef, I want to make sure they're cooked allthe way through. So I'm going to cook themfor about 3 to 5 minutes on the first side.Now, after the patties are fried, I'll takethem out of the pan and then I'll make areally yummy sauce.And that's what makes Salisbury steak soyummy.The patties are done.I took him out of the pan and then I drainedoff all the grease, didn't clean the pan, andI threw in a sliced onion.And I've been cooking that.It's nice and golden brown.So I'm going to move into the sauce.I'll just pour two cups of beef broth rightinto the pan with the onions.You know, sometimes I call this gravy, butit's really not a gravy in the traditionalsense of the word. It's more of a sauce.And the flavor of the patties really comesthrough.And then several dashes of Worcestershiresauce just eyeball it.And then for a little tang and sweetness, atablespoon of ketchup, I'd say a heapingtablespoon. And then this is a strictlyoptional ingredient, but I like to add alittle bit of seasoning and browning sauceinto the pan.Ooh, that's going to be nice and dark.It really doesn't do too much, except itdeepens the color, deepens the flavor alittle bit. If you don't use it, it'll stillbe totally delicious.I'm going to let that go a little bit.And to thicken it up a little, I'm going tomix some cornstarch with a little beef broth,just enough to turn it into a paste.My mother in law always makes fun of mebecause I stir things with the measuringspoons I use, but I don't like to do dishes,so I'm in the habit of dirtying as few thingsas possible. All right, now I'm just goingto add a couple of tablespoons of thecornstarch mixture to the sauce and thenI'll let it cook for just a minute and seewhat it looks like.The cornstarch thickens the sauce, but italso makes it nice and glossy and reallybeautiful. If it needs more thickening, Ican always add more.If the sauce gets too thick, you can splashin a little beef broth.It's real easy.You can't mess it up.Okay, this looks perfect.It's getting nice and thick, so I'm justgoing to add a little salt and pepper.And it looks just so good, so pretty.You can give it a taste, adjust theseasonings as you want.But it looks just right.So now I'll just stick the patties rightback into the pan, nudge him around into thesauce. And then this sauce is so wonderful.I want to spoon it over the tops of thepatties.You know, the Salisbury steak, I remember,had really finely diced onions in the gravy.And if you didn't like onions, you were kindof out of luck.But I like to slice some big in that way.If a kid doesn't necessarily like onions,they can easily pick them off.All right, Salisbury steak is done.I'm just going to let him simmer in the pan.I'm making delicious, meaty, very cowboyfriendly lasagna for the guys.I'm adding £3 of ground beef and £2 of justregular pork breakfast sausage to a big pot.And then I'll add about five cloves ofminced garlic.Now I'm just going to cook the meat mixtureuntil it's totally browned.I'm going to add 228 ounce cans of dicedtomatoes, and then I'll add two cans oftomato paste.If you have the little cans of tomato paste,you'd actually need to add four cans.This is one of those recipes that I couldseriously make in my sleep because my mommade it so much and I have made it so much.All right, now I'll just stir in all thetomato stuff and I'm going to add some saltand pepper. It's a lot of meat, so it needssome seasoning.I'll add some fresh herbs later.It just needs to simmer.Uncovered for about 45 minutes.Okay, Now I'm going to add half of the herbsto the sauce.And then I'm going to save the rest of theherbs for the cheese mixture.Okay, The sauce is pretty much ready, so I'llgo ahead and make the cheese mixture for thelasagna. I've got two big containers ofcottage cheese.Even if you don't like cottage cheese byitself, it's delicious in this lasagna.My husband would not touch cottage cheese byitself to save his life.But he loves this lasagna.All right, now to the cottage cheese.I'll add four beaten eggs, and that helpsbind the lasagna all together.And then a cup of grated parmesan.Then I'll add a little bit of salt andpepper and mix it all together.The cottage cheese mixture is a little moremild than the ricotta flavor, so you really,really taste the meat and the sauce.All right, That's all stirred together.Now, I'll just throw in the rest of theherbs, the parsley and the basil.All the elements are ready, and I'm going tostart assembling it.I'll lay four lasagna noodles in the bottomof these disposable foil pans.All right, On top of the layer of noodles,I'm going to spoon a fourth of the cheesemixture right over the top.So I'll just spread that all over thenoodles.Now on top of the cheese mixture, I'm goingto lay slices of mozzarella.It's just a big old spoonful, pretty much ontop of each slice of cheese.All right. Spread that out.Now, I'm going to repeat the layer exactlylike the first one.It needs to bake at 350 for about 45 minutesto an hour until it's hot and bubbly.I'll leave this foil on so the top won't gettoo burned.This is my simple, perfect chili, and itreally is just that it's a total cinch tomake. I just throw £2 of ground beef into alarge pot with two cloves of chopped garlic.Then cook it till it browns.While that's happening, I mix up the herbsand spices.One teaspoon of ground oregano.One teaspoon of ground cumin.A fourth, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, twotablespoons of chili powder and one teaspoonof salt. Then I'd add an eight ounce can oftomato sauce, the spices, andgive it a good stir.Put on the lid and simmer it for an hour.After that, I grab a quarter cup of Masamixed with half a cup of water.Masa is corn flour and it thickens thechilli and adds a great corn flavor.After an hour, I dump the masa mixture intothe chili.Stir it together.Well, then let it simmer for a few moreminutes.Then it's done.Simply perfect.I just snip the bags open.Dinner doesn't get much easier than this,does it?And I'm just going to place them in the potand then just pour some water over the top.And then heat them up.And the water will eventually evaporate andit'll be perfect.All right. The chilies thawed.I'll just throw the beans in.I'm using kidney beans and pinto beans, butyou can use whatever beans you have in yourpantry. And I'm just going to let thissimmer gently until they get back from movingcattle around.And then I've got some fixings ready for thechili.The great thing about these fixin's isthey're all pantry and fridge standbys.I've got tortilla chips, lime wedges, redonion and, of course, grated cheese.You've got to have lots and lots of gratedcheese when you serve chili.It's home school co op day for my oldestchild, Alex and her best friend, Meg.Every Friday they go to Tulsa to ahomeschool co-op and my best friend Hyacinthetakes them every single week.She takes them, stays with them all day andbrings them home.The last thing Hyacinth needs is to worryabout cooking dinner every Friday night.So I'm going to whip up some yummy beef stewwith cheddar cheese grits for hire since.And that way she won't have to think aboutdinner at all.I've got two pots going because I'm actuallygoing to make one for Hyacinth family and onefor mine. I'm going to brown the meat first.I got a chuck roast and cut it into bigcubes.I actually haven't told Hyacinth that I'mmaking dinner for her.I'm just going to run in and pick up Alexlike I always do.And then spring dinner on her at the lastminute.Okay, The meat's nice and brown.So I'm going to go ahead and take it out ofthe pot.It's by no means cooked.It looks like.It is, but in the stew, it's going to simmerfor a couple of hours.And this chuck roast gets so tender.I'm going to.Add an onion to each pot.The pot is nice and brown.It has a lot of bits from the meat in there.And then I'm going to add about three clovesof chopped.Garlic to each pot.All right. Now I'll just stir the onions andgarlic around a bit.The pots are so hot, they're almosttranslucent already.So I really just need to cook them for abouta minute.So I'm just going to take a break and grab acouple of beers.It's been a long day.Just kidding. I'm going to add the beer tothe stew.This gives the stew really great flavor.So I'm just going to add 32 ounces of beefstock to each pot.That's the pots. I'm just going to add a fewdashes of Worcestershire.Worcestershire always adds a nice savouryness, a little bit of richness.Then I'm just going to add a little bit oftomato paste to each pot, gives it a littlebit of a tang, gives the sauce a little bitof richness.So good. And I like to add paprika to thestew.Also gives it a great flavor, but it alsokind of helps with the color.And then I'll add a little bit of sugar toeach pot.Now, the last thing I need to do in thisstage is add the meat into the pot.So I'll just slide half into this one andhalf into this one.Now I'll just stir the meat in.Make sure it's all combined.And then all I need to do now is be patient.I'm going to put the lids on the pot.Turn the heat down.Let the beef stew simmer for about an hourand a half, and then I'll put the rootvegetables in. Let it simmer until it'sdone, and Hyacinth is going to be so happy.All right. The beef stew has been simmeringaway for about an hour and a half, and nowit's time to add in the vegetables.I got to tell you.Oh, this smells so delicious.I smell everything.The beer, the broth.Now I've got two carrots for each pot.And then I also have two parsnips for eachpot.And then I have one turnip.And that's enough for both pots.It's about a half a turnip per pot.Now, I didn't want to add these at thebeginning because the vegetables would bepretty much disintegrated.So this is the perfect time to add them.Let them simmer for about 30 minutes tillthe veggies are nice and tender.The last thing I'm going to do is thicken upthe cooking liquid a little bit.I'll drizzle in some beef stock into threetablespoons of flour.And I just want to make a really, reallysmooth, pretty thin paste.Now, I'll just add a little bit into eachpot.And then it's going to keep bubbling justfor about 10 minutes or so, and it's going tomake the stew just perfect and rich andthick.I'm hungry. I've just been cooking someonion and garlic in a little bit of butter,and the onions are getting nice and soft.So this is a good time to add the groundbeef.Just a pound of ground, Chuck, and I'll addsome salt and pepper, and then I'm going toturn the heat up and just crumble this beefand cook it until it's totally browned.This recipe actually has a funny history.One time when the kids were all small, Isaid, Let's go to the grocery store and youguys can pick whatever you want for me tomake you for dinner.And you know what they picked?I'm not going to name any names.They picked the box that comes with aseasoning packet and a bag of noodles.You know what I'm talking about.You add it to ground beef.So I've been trying to make a good homemadeversion of the box mix ever since.I think ground beef is one of the bestproteins when it comes to budget friendlycooking. If you have teenagers to cook foror a big family, you can buy packs of groundbeef and it doesn't break the bank.That is totally browned.So I'm going to add a good spoonful oftomato paste.The tomato paste just adds a little bit ofrichness to the sauce.So I'm just smushing it around on theskillet, mixing it in with the beef.And then remember that boxed product I toldyou about?One of the cool things about it is you putthe noodles in without even cooking themfirst.So I'm putting egg noodles 12 ounces into theskillet.Now, for the liquid, I'm going to add abouttwo and one half cups of low sodium beefstock. And then I'll add a teaspoon ofsmoked paprika.A good squeeze of grainy brown mustard.Trust me, this is all going to make sensebefore too long.A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce.Then I'm going to add a little more pepperbecause the noodles and the beef definitelyneed it. I'm going to stir it and then Iwant the noodles to have enough liquid tocook. I'm going to add some hot water abouta cup to start.And while it's cooking, if it looks like itneeds more, I can splash in a little bit moreand then stir it and make sure all thosespices are worked in.So I'm going to reduce the heat to low andI'll put the lid on and I'll just let itsimmer for 12 minutes, stirring it a coupleof times along the way.Hey, it's time for the big reveal.Let's see what happened in here.Oh, it looks wonderful.Now, you can totally serve it as it is Now.It's pretty much finished, but I like to addjust a little bit of creaminess, so I'll addsome sour cream.And how much you add is totally up to you.It just depends on how creamy you wantthings to get and just a splash or two ofcream. It's sort of a stroganoff idea, butmore budget friendly.And then I like to chop up some chives andjust sprinkle them over the top.They make it a little bit prettier and theysure add some good flavor.All right, Chives.Go on. It's nothing fancy, but boy, is itdelicious.\n"